FY2023 USGS Water Resources Requests for Proposals Announced
The Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) announces the release of the three Request for Proposals through the Water Resources Research Act Program Competitive Grants Program by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the National Institutes for Water Resources. In addition, an informational webinar with Q&A focusing on these RFPs will be held March 9, 2023 at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.
The three programs for FY2023 are:
- National Competitive Grants Program (also known as 104g), focusing on improving and enhancing the nation’s water supply and availability as well as exploration of new ideas that address or expand understanding of water problems with research priorities including national-scale evaluation of water budgets and socioeconomics;
- Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Competitive Grants Program, focusing on better identifying and understanding aquatic invasive species interactions on water quality, water quantity and aquatic ecosystems to guide management decisions to help improve invasive species management with specific research priorities on the effects, characteristics and management of aquatic invasive species in the Mississippi River Basin; and
- Per-And Polyflouroalkyl (PFAS) Substances Competitive Grants Program, focusing on better understanding PFAS interactions on water resources and the effects it has on water quality and resultant exposure to humans, other organisms and ecosystems to guide management decisions improving water resources at the regional or national scale with research priorities including media-specific methods, atmospheric sources and processes oriented at the molecular level.
Proposals must address the research priorities for each program as listed in their respective RFPs (click the links in the bulleted section above for RFP PDFs). Any investigator at an institution of higher learning is eligible to apply. Projects will only be awarded if funds are appropriated to the USGS to support the program.
For each program, proposals may be for projects of 1 to 3 years in duration and require a 1:1 match. Maximum award amounts are $310,000 for 104g and $279,000 for AIS and PFAS.
Per the guidelines, all applications to any of these programs must be submitted through the Texas Water Resources Institute. Proposals in PDF format must be emailed to the TWRI Associate Director Lucas Gregory, Ph.D., at lfgregory@ag.tamu.edu and TWRI Assistant Director Danielle Kalisek at Danielle.Kalisek@ag.tamu.edu by 5 p.m. Central Time, April 17, 2023, to allow adequate time for TWRI to upload them into grants.gov and submit by the April 27 deadline. Please email Lucas and Danielle by April 3 if you intend to apply, and indicate which program you plan to apply for so we know how many applications to anticipate.
Only proposals submitted to TWRI by April 17 will be transmitted to the National Grants Competition Proposal Peer Review Panel.
NOTE for TAMU (on-campus) and AgriLife PIs/Co-PIs: For those submitting proposals within Texas A&M University, considered “on-campus,” Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, do not route your proposal through Sponsored Research Services (SRS). You can work with your proposal administrator on budgeting appropriately in the SRS template, but all proposals submitted to TWRI will be compiled into one submission package listing all PIs, and will route accordingly for approvals through maestro prior to us submitting the packages to USGS.
EXTERNAL/SUBAWARDS to TAMU/AgriLife: If you will be a subaward to AgriLife Research, please work with your sponsored program office to ensure routing/approvals are obtained prior to submission to TWRI. In addition, we will need a completed, signed subaward commitment form from your organization along with your submission package unless your organization is part of the FDP, then provide the link to that information instead.
For more information and guidance documents for these three opportunities, visit the grants.gov package pages for 104g, AIS and PFAS, respectively. The Focus Categories are the same for each opportunity. Additional information about research priorities, proposal content, format and review process are available in the RFP.
Questions regarding these grant programs can be directed to Lucas Gregory at lfgregory@ag.tamu.edu.
